14 Weeks Old!

Charlotte turns 14 weeks old today. I can hardly believe she's been a part of our lives for so long. In some ways life without her seems so distant; in other ways, it seems arrived yesterday.

This week she learned how to roll over from her tummy to her back, a skill she will have to learn again after the cast comes off; she cannot roll around in the cast.

Charlotte fell asleep right on cue the first night in the cast, but ever since has given us fits at night. At first she only slept 2 hours at a time. Careful to keep her cast dry, I changed her each time she awoke, even when she had fallen asleep nursing. Sometimes the diaper change would wake her up and keep her from going back to sleep. Last night she slept great - after taking 40 minutes to go down and stay down. Tonight took over an hour - despite seeming dead to the world at 7:30, she woke screaming at 8 and went up and down until 8:40. None of this would be so hard, except she just cries and cries. My "great sleeper," who fell asleep each night, in her crib, with ease, has not yet mastered sleeping with the spica cast. After my hip surgery years ago I had a hard time sleeping too - I had to sleep on my back with my legs strapped onto an "A" shaped piece of foam, so I understand why it may take a few more nights for her to adjust to falling asleep in the cast.



When awake after a good night's rest or a long nap, Charlotte returns to her cheerful self. We sit her astride a rolled up towel and Mike the Tiger in a papasan chair (from Aunt Helen's room!) so she can comfortably see the room. She really loves it, probably because we hold her a lot more often and she needs some independence! We even moved it outside while we adorned the front bushes with Christmas lights! What a sweetie!